Does retaking classes look bad on applications?

[ccouniha]

Hi all,

I'm currently a junior UG, applying to clinical grad schools in the fall. My GPA hasn't been that great in the past (due to personal reasons), but my current grades are really good. Averaging the last 60 hours of courses (what most applications are asking for), my GPA is about 3.23. I know clinical programs are hard to get into, so I am thinking about retaking Bio in the summer so it will be included in my GPA by the time I apply. If I retake this class, my last 60 hours GPA will go from 3.23 to 3.56. This is a pretty significant difference. I know that both grades show up on my transcript, but I would be willing to explain why some of my earlier grades were so poor - as I mentioned before, I had legitimate family crises and my grades suffered as a result.

I think its worth it if my gpa will go up that much, as schools sometimes don't even look at applications below a certain number. Also, there is a very strong upward trend in my grades, as I went from Mostly Bs and Cs to Mostly As and a few Bs.

As a note, I know GPA isn't the only thing that will get you into grad school. I've been an RA for the past 2 years, intend to get a pub before I apply, and will kick the snot out of the GRE.

Thanks for your help! I have been stressing about this for a while now.

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[psychstudent613]

I guess some of it depends on how good the rest of your application is, what type of program you are trying to apply for (top schools, PhD, PsyD ect).
I would think- go for it if you think you can increase your GPA that much. Your application looks promising (RA, publish)- but do you have clinical?
Good luck!

 

[flyerfan10]

I would definitely go ahead and retake the class. I was in pretty much the same position when I applied a few months ago (I'm currently a senior UG). Due to personal reasons my grades freshman year were pretty bad but I retook my chem class last semester and it bumped up my GPA significantly (to about what yours will be if you retake). My GPA would be about 3.7ish if it weren't for that one year so I feel your pain! Obviously I can't predict if I would have gotten in or not if I hadn't retaken it, but it definitely didn't hurt. I don't know what kind of programs you are planning on applying to but I applied to all Psy.D. this year. I was accepted to a school tied as my number one choice with another that I am currently waitlisted at. I would go ahead and retake the class if I were you. After that just make sure to kick some butt on the GREs. I thought those early bad grades were going to destroy my chances of getting in but I just decided to go ahead and apply anyway and I couldn't be happier.

 

[ccouniha]

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping it would be alright to retake a class or two. As for the programs I'm applying to, they are Clinical PhDs. I'm hoping the rest of my application will be awesome - the research lab I work in is clinical, and my advisor is pretty well known in his field. I expect great LORs, GRE scores, and (hopefully) a pub, but for sure a presentation.

Also, I don't know if this matters to grad schools, but I've pretty much taken any/all upper level psych classes my school offers. This includes: positive psych, neurobiology of addiction, class on alzheimers, behavior disorders in childhood, etc. Most of these classes were combined with grad students, so I know they are probably the highest I can take.

Thanks again! I have been researching stuff on grad schools since I was a freshman. I would really hate to not get in because my grades were affected by significant events in my life that I couldn't help.